


A Long Journey Forward

by AstroHippie33



Category: Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Angst, Complicated Relationships, Fluff, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Self-Indulgent, Smut, not good at tags still, recovering from trauma, short story collection, will up rating for certain chapters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-14 16:14:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29421426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AstroHippie33/pseuds/AstroHippie33
Summary: He was doing this for Marnie and no matter how much he wanted to turn back he promised himself he wouldn't.Because any place was better than there.He never imagined any place could have been worse._________________________________________________________________Piers leaves with Marnie on their first train out of his hometown to escape his abusive father and ends up in the Galar region in hopes of making a better life for the both of them.
Relationships: Kibana | Raihan/Nezu | Piers
Comments: 2
Kudos: 17





	1. The Train to Galar

**Author's Note:**

> Hi,
> 
> Wanted to get some of my ideas out on the table with some of these short stories that have been on my mind. This is pretty much a backstory of Piers (and yes a continuation somewhat of his complicated relationship with Raihan that I can't seem to let go of.) There were a lot of things that I wanted to explain about him in my poems that I didn't feel like I could in those. Mostly self-indulgent.

Piers didn't feel like he could breathe until the train pulled away from the station  
taking him away from his hometown and toward a place completely unknown to him.

"We're goin' to go somewhere much better Marnie. I promise you. You're gonna love it."

He told her with a comforting smile, but as she leans her head against his arm, sleeping soundly after barraging him with questions he couldn't answer  
he wasn't sure if he believed it himself anymore, much less convinced her that it was true.  
All he knew was that he was going as far away south as the train would take them.  
Somewhere where he would never find them and he would never hurt him again.  
His hand touches his cheek softly where it was starting to bruise, wincing at the tenderness of it  
but the small sting was nothing compared to the words spoken after the punch had been dealt.  
The booze of his breath still lingering along with the memory of it all.

_"You did this to our family!_  
_I don't need your help or anyone else's_  
_I just need you gone!"_

So he did just that.  
Packing his bags with as much as he and his little sister could have possibly needed,  
Taking what he could from his father's wallet as he laid passed out on the couch after one too many drinks.  
He had wanted him gone after all. The least he could have been was willing to pay for it.  
Still, he found himself taking one last look at him.  
Short, buzzed black hair and thin, sharp features relaxed in the same sweat pants and t-shirt he had worn for days already.  
It was the only time he ever seemed to be peaceful lately. It reminded him of how things had been last year.  
How close they had been as a family before the accident that changed everything.  
But he didn't have time to reminisce. He knew that wasn't their reality anymore.  
He makes his way down the hall of their seemingly cozy brick home, sneaking quietly into Marnie's room  
opening the creaking door slowly and tiptoeing over various toys and stuffed animals and deciding to make room for her favorite one  
A Teddiursa that mom had picked out with him before she was born, and packing the last of her things before waking her up.

"We have to hurry Marnie.  
and keep quiet okay?  
We don't wanna wake up dad."

She nods sleepily while rubbing her eyes with one hand as he takes the other within his own and leads her out of the front door.  
Closing it quietly behind them and taking close care not to alert any of their neighbors in their quiet suburban town.  
Taking one last look around before making it out onto the quiet countryside streets that slept along with their town at night save for a few cars.  
Carrying her once she refused to continue walking once she became too tired and decided it better to oblige before she started crying.  
He didn't think he would be able to deal with one of her crying fits of all things right now.  
and though it slowed him down to the point where he had started to worry a bit  
it was late and she was a bit heavy for his weight after all.  
he had made it just in time to make it to the station and catch the last train for the night.  
Hoping to escape the heavyweight of the guilt he carried on his shoulders.  
but even as the train pulled out of the station  
the dark countryside hills rolling past their window under the moonlight within the darkness of their train cabin  
He couldn't help the tears that ran down his cheeks at the thought of saying goodbye to his home and the good memories that came along with it.

He would have been more than happy to stay if he were wanted.  
but at this point, it felt like he didn't have any other choice.  
He was eleven, it shouldn't have been this scary for him to leave home.  
Most of the kids his age had left home last year at age ten, but he had never been much farther than a few towns away.  
Leaving the country was more than a bit nerve-wracking, but his father's behavior had been growing more and more sporadic.  
It was dangerous to stay there and even more dangerous to keep Marnie there with him.  
and as he looked back towards where his little sister slept he knew he couldn't risk him hurting her as he did to him.  
She was only five. She didn't deserve that. She deserved better.  
He was doing this for her and no matter how much he wanted to turn back he promised himself he wouldn't.  
Because any place was better than there.

He never imagined any place could have been worse.


	2. Wyndon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Piers and Marnie enter the Galar region for the first time and make their first home in Wyndon, but things don't go nearly as well as Piers had hoped they would.

Wyndon.  
That was the new home they had settled on and it was no mystery to him why it stuck out in his mind.  
The quaint rows of townhomes and the winding strips with enticing storefronts stacked with apartment flats built on their tops.  
All surrounded by the surreal steel tower that loomed over the city and decorated with a rose-shaped stadium further down its busy streets.  
It was somewhere he had never been or even dreamed of going but yet it felt so familiar.  
He found himself reminiscing of the monuments he saw on tv every year when he was younger as they passed by the window of the slowing train.  
watching the battles at the homes of his then childhood friends.  
before they moved on with promises that they would make it to this place themselves one day, and it being the last he had heard before falling out of touch  
and left him alone with his father who never wanted anything of the sort on tv in their home.  
He understood why he never liked Pokemon or battling and he found himself agreeing for those very same reasons.  
but the ever-growing soreness of his cheek from the night before was enough to draw him closer to what he knew he wouldn’t approve of.  
Even if it did give him a nauseous sense of dread being so close to a place so dangerous.

That gut feeling along with Marnie’s insistent begging to ride the Ferris wheel was enough to make him get him off of that train with plans of starting over here  
and after the two of them marveled at the view of their new home from above  
mapping out their next destinations amongst the constellations of glittering lights within its nighttime skyline  
He had a gut feeling that this is exactly what he needed for him and Marnie  
finding an inn the closest he could deep within the city center and tucking Marnie in, waiting until she fell asleep shortly after from all of her excitement that day  
to plan out how a boy his age would make a living in a city like this with no Pokemon by his side.

It should have been easy.  
Find a job. There were sure to be plenty in a place as busy as Wyndon.  
Find a new place to stay that wouldn’t cost them nearly a fortune as this place did for just one night alone.  
and live out the rest of their days here in hiding. Hoping his dad would never come here looking for them.

He should have known not to ever trust himself because following his gut always got him into trouble.

Wyndon was nothing like the place where he grew up and the shock of it seemed to hit him all at once.  
It was overinflated. Overpriced from the food served at the restaurants and carts that lured them in and trapped them by their sweet scents.  
To the clothing stores that flaunted their designer status and price tags and he was glad he had packed a few outfits to get them through.  
The people were cold and unfriendly, which was something he was used to at home.  
Busy corporates and unbothered tourist offering nothing more but the occasional gasp at the then deepened purple bruise on his cheek  
before carrying on their way to work or to gawk at the competitors heading toward the stadium that night.  
and of course, never being too extroverted to begin with it shouldn’t have bothered him  
but during the times he found himself choosing between a decent meal or another night in his inn  
he wished someone would have looked when he was desperately looking for any type of job they would have offered him.  
When he didn’t have the choice anymore and they were forced to camp outside closer towards the outskirts of town  
he wished someone would have stopped to offer a decent place to stay on those cold nights.  
and when he had to pick between feeding himself or feeding Marnie he knew by then people wouldn’t give a care in the world and he had to do something.  
He hated the people here but he never thought he would find himself thieving off of them.  
Yet he found himself unconsciously catching on to the fact that when people were on their phones speeding down the street they weren’t paying attention to much else.  
and tourists always tended to have plenty of cash on them and they were pretty easy to spot in a town like this.  
but he never took more than he needed at a time just enough for him and Marnie to eat or for a place to stay on those colder nights.  
That made it better…right?

Not according to Marnie. She apparently had a better sense of morality than he did even at her young age.  
and he didn’t blame her for reacting the way she did when she caught him one morning after a night in their tent sliding his hand into the bag of a stranger and pulling out what he could in the short time he had to make his move.

“You’re stealin’! You’re bein’ a bad person Piers…”

She scolds him, crossing her arms and shooting him a disapproving look and it makes his heart sink.  
The last thing he had ever meant to do was be caught by her doing something like that.  
but he had grown so used to doing things like that he had hardly given it a second thought in the moment.  
but what else was he supposed to do in times like these?

“Marine we’ve gotta eat. A-aren’t you hungry?”  
“I’ll get you somethin’ sweet. Let’s just let it go alright?”

She shakes her head quickly swinging her pigtails along with her movements.

“I’m tellin’ dad when we go back home.”

His breath hitches at her words.  
He hadn’t thought he would have had to do anything more difficult than explaining why he was stealing that morning.  
Of course, she hadn’t understood anything that was happening in their home.  
She had never even questioned his bruise, she had grown so used to seeing them.  
When he told her they were leaving did she think it was only for a short while?  
Did she want to live with their dad, did she still love him even when he wasn’t there for her?  
He had never considered it…that maybe it wasn’t them he was taking his anger out on.  
Maybe it was only him he hated enough to hurt. He had never once laid his hands on Marnie.

Had he made a mistake bringing her with him?

“M-Marnie…  
I’m sorry…I won’t do it again…  
Why don’t we go and listen to the battle outside of the stadium tonight?  
Would you like that?”

Her face brightens as she jumps around excitedly but it does nothing to help him at the moment.  
Diverting her attention away from things wasn’t what she deserved and he knew it.  
but he decided he would deal with facing one monster at a time.  
and right now that monster was doing something he knew would make Marnie okay with being away from home.  
Even if it reminded him of things he wished he could forget.

The stadium was always closed off to anyone who didn’t have a ticket after the matches had begun  
but just outside they could hear everything from the chanting crowd and the announcer calling out every move of each trainer and Pokemon on the field.  
To the clashes and chaos surrounding the Dynamax battles with the roars and movements enough to shake the ground around them.  
Even though it was everything he had ever feared the look on Marnie's face when she heard those sounds starting up from the stadium comforted him.  
it seemed to be the only thing that could make her smile lately and he wished there was something he could do to keep that smile on her face while she was stuck with him.  
and as the celebrations in the stadium reached their peek as Leon was announced the reigning champion for the second time in a row  
they beat the crowds to leaving, heading back to their campsite and deciding to himself that he would take yet another risk that he hoped would make things better for them.

“We’re gonna leave this place for a little while, Marnie.  
So get some rest tonight.  
I know you’ll miss the stadium but…  
How about we come back someday and watch our first battle inside together?”

Though it was more than a bit intimidating leaving the last place that brought him familiarity  
he knew leaving Wyndon for a while would be the best thing for both of them.  
It was going to be a long journey forward from here on after tonight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really loving writing this right now <3 Thank you for the kudos and support from the first chapter and hope you enjoy! (I'm kind of hating how longer verses fit on this right now so I may go back and correct after tonight.)


End file.
